, 1627 She and Cosimo enjoyed a contented marriage. Together they had eight children in just eight years. Cosimo II died in 1621, leaving their ten-year-old son Ferdinando as grand duke. Cosimo's
last will dictated that the two Grand Duchesses – his mother
Christina and Maria Maddalena – would rule as joint regents, with the assistance of a council of four ministers. Their collective regency is known as the
Tutrici. Maria Maddalena's temperament was analogous to Christina's. Together, they aligned Tuscany with the
Papacy; re-doubled the Tuscan clergy; and allowed the trial of
Galileo Galilei to occur. Upon the death of the last
Duke of Urbino, instead of claiming the duchy for Ferdinando, who was married to the Duke's granddaughter, and heiress,
Vittoria della Rovere, they permitted it to be annexed by
Pope Urban VIII. In 1626, they banned any Tuscan subject from being educated outside the grand duchy, a law later resurrected by Maria Maddalena's grandson,
Cosimo III. The Dowager grand duchesses sent Ferdinando on a tour of Europe in 1627.
Harold Acton ascribes the decline of Tuscany to their regency. It is also asserted about the dowager duchesses, that,Both were excellent women, but they were without any talent for governing; they were still less endowed with the smallest financial ability; they were excessively fond of pomp and splendor. Never before had such gorgeous magnificence been displayed by the court as now ensued by their rule. The Grand Duchess died aged 42 after a visit to her brother
Leopold in
Innsbruck on the way back to
Passau. Her son had been in power for a year. ==Issue==